Sleep help!

BJKL

I need help ladies!  My DS has always been a great sleeper. He is PTed, moved to a bed 4 months ago and dropped the paci 3 months ago...so I know alot of change in a short time but until recently he has done great.

Lately he is waking up at least twice a night and calling for us.  He won't go back to sleep without either my DH or me going into his room to sooth him.  I can't figure out why he is waking up or how to break the cycle.  Any thoughts would be awesome!

neverblushed

It's normal around this age for kids to go through a stage of nighttime fear and anxiety.  He may not explicitly state that he's afraid (of the dark, or monsters, of shadows, etc.) but that's probably what it is.

My son went through a difficult phase right before turning 3 where he was bothered by fears at night.  Here's what I did that helped:

--used a nightlight (you are probably already doing this -- we were too, but we made a big deal of pointing out that the nightlight was always on)

--found a big, fierce stuffed animal to "stand guard" at the foot of the bed (although we pointed out that this was just so that he would feel better -- we reinforced that there was nothing real to be afraid of when it's dark.)

--encouraged him to think happy thoughts when he was in bed, instead of scary thoughts.  We came up with a list of happy things he could think about (Lightning McQueen and Sally taking their drive around Radiator Springs worked for us!)

--read books about characters who were afraid of the dark.

--limited him to calling for us one time.  If he called right after bedtime, we would go to the door, but not go in.  I'd say, "Do you want this to be your 'one time?' Maybe you should save your 'one time' for later in the night in case you wake up."  He gradually learned he could go back to sleep without needing us to visit him in his room.